HOLED up in a plush New York hotel, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could do little but watch his own apparent ousting on television, as mutinous generals staged a coup in Bangkok.

As tanks rumbled through darkened city streets, Mr Thaksin huddled with top aides in the luxurious confines of the 1400-room Grand Hyatt hotel, which towers over fabled 42nd Street in the bustling heart of Manhattan.

Cut off, 11 times zones from home and with his political fate hanging by a thread, Mr Thaksin launched a desperate, cross-continental rearguard action.

But as the coup raced to a climax, his aides in New York admitted they were losing touch with events.

In an ironic twist, the man who made billions from telecoms, couldn't get in touch with home, after rebellious troops seized government communications lines, a Thai official said on condition of anonymity.

"It is very difficult to communicate with people, to get to know the exact situation there," a harried official said.

Mr Thaksin's aides wouldn't say whether he had been in touch with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej - the country's beacon of stability as fragile democracy emerged from decades of political turmoil and coups.

As messages flashed across Thai television screens, declaring martial law in Bangkok, defiant Thaksin aides insisted he would not reliquish power.

"The Thai prime minister is quite calm," a senior Thai official said on condition of anonymity.

"He watched President George W. Bush speaking at the UN General Assembly from his hotel room."

As US news networks bracketed Mr Bush's speech with pictures of Humvees rolling through the streets of Bangkok, Mr Thaksin can hardly have avoided also watching the political earthquake back home.

"He feels that he is the elected prime minister and he would like to safeguard the constitution of the country," said the official.

In the early hours of the coup, as troops closed in on his office in Bangkok, Mr Thaksin took to the airwaves, broadcasting on Thai TV networks from his hotel suite, sacking the army chief, and declaring a state of emergency.

Thaksin aides meanwhile hurried to rejig his scheduled speech to the UN General Assembly, but that has now been cancelled.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's army commander staged a coup Tuesday night and ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he was in New York, circling his offices with tanks, declaring martial law and revoking the constitution.
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Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who is known to be close to Thailand's revered monarch and is a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated nation, took power without a shot being fired. He will serve as acting prime minister, said army spokesman Col. Akara Chitroj.

Thaksin, who was first elected in 2001, has faced calls to resign amid allegations of corruption and abuse of power, and the coup came on the eve of a major rally — the first in months — that was scheduled for Bangkok by a coalition of his foes.

"The armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle," the new leaders said in a statement on national television. "We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience."

As soldiers and armored vehicles moved through drizzly Bangkok, the military declared a provisional authority loyal to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, calling itself the "Council of Administrative Reform."

The council, it said, soon return power to a democratic government but did not specify what reforms they would carry out.

The military ordered all troops to report to their duty stations. There was no sign of resistance to the coup in the hours after it was announced late Tuesday.

The coup leaders also said schools, banks and the stock market will be closed Wednesday. Civil servants, including permanent secretaries of ministries, heads of state agencies, and heads of universities in the Bangkok metropolitan area were ordered to report to the council on Wednesday morning.

Akara said Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit had been removed from his post.

An army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Chitchai and Defense Minister Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya — two Thaksin loyalists — had been arrested.

"The government is no longer administering the country," Akara said.

Thaksin was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, and he declared a state of emergency in an audio statement via a government-owned TV station in Bangkok in a vain attempt to stave off the coup.

Thaksin, who had been scheduled to address the General Assembly, canceled his speech.

Government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee, who was with Thaksin in New York, said the coup leaders "cannot succeed" and was confident they would fail "because democracy in Thailand has developed to some ... measure of maturity."

At least 14 tanks surrounded Government House, Thaksin's office. A convoy of four tanks rigged with loudspeakers and sirens rolled through a busy commercial district of Bangkok, warning people to get off the street for their own safety.

The coup went largely unnoticed in Bangkok's popular tourist districts, where foreigners packed bars and cabarets, oblivious to the activity about two miles away. But word raced among street vendors hawking T-shirts, who packed up their carts quickly and started heading home.

Hundreds of people gathered at Government House, taking pictures of themselves with the tanks.

"I don't agree with the coup, but now that they've done it, I support it because Thaksin has refused to resign from his position," said university student Sasiprapha Chantawong. "Allowing Thaksin to carry on will ruin the country more than this. The reputation of the country may be somewhat damaged, but it's better than letting Thaksin stay in power."

The White House was monitoring the events closely, "but the situation at the moment is unclear," said Frederick Jones, a spokesman for
President Bush's National Security Council. "We look to the Thai people to resolve their political differences in a peaceful manner and in accordance with principles of democracy and rule of law."

Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, and a member of the opposition Democrat Party, said Thaksin had forced the military to act.

"As politicians, we do not support any kind of coup but during the past five years, the government of Thaksin created several conditions that forced the military to stage the coup. Thaksin has caused the crisis in the country," he told The Associated Press.

It was the first coup in Thailand since 1991, when an attempt by Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon, a military general, to retain power was later countered by mass street demonstrations and Suchinda's ouster. After that, the military vowed to remain in its barracks, in contrast to earlier decades when military coups were a staple of Thai politics.

Massive rallies earlier this year forced Thaksin to dissolve Parliament and call an election in April, three years early. The poll was boycotted by the opposition and later annulled by Thailand's top courts, leaving it without a working legislature.

Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party twice won landslide election victories, in 2001 and 2005 and had been expected to win the next vote on Oct. 15, bolstered by its widespread support in the country's rural areas.

In March, Sondhi sought to ease speculation the military might join the political fray, as it last did in 1992 and more than a dozen other times during earlier crises.

"The army will not get involved in the political conflict. Political troubles should be resolved by politicians," Sondhi said at the time, echoing comments of other top military officials. "Military coups are a thing of the past."

On Monday, Thaksin had said he might step down as leader of Thailand after the upcoming elections but would remain as partly leader, despite calls for him to give up the post.

The first sign of the coup came when army-owned TV channel 5 interrupted regular broadcasts with patriotic music and showed pictures of the king. Later, several hundred soldiers were deployed at government installations and major intersections in Bangkok.

Opposition to Thaksin gained momentum in January when his family announced it had sold its controlling stake in telecommunications company Shin Corp. to Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings for a tax-free $1.9 billion. Critics allege the sale involved insider trading and complained a key national asset moved to foreign hands.

Thaksin also has been accused of stifling the media and mishandling a Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand that flared under his rule.

In the mostly Muslim south, separatist insurgents have waged a bloody campaign that has left at least 1,700 dead, mostly civilians, since 2004. Citizens there have complained of rights abuses by soldiers and discrimination by the Buddhist majority.

Bhumibol, a 78-year-old constitutional monarch with limited powers, has used his prestige to pressure opposing parties to compromise during political crises. He is credited with helping keep Thailand more stable than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

He is the world's longest-serving monarch, celebrated his 60th year on the throne with lavish festivities in June that were attended by royalty from around the world.

Many Thais had been counting on him to pull the country through its political crisis, which has left it with no functioning legislature and only a caretaker government after the inconclusive election.

Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Mass. He became the ninth king of Thailand's Chakri dynasty on June 9, 1946, succeeding his older brother, Ananda, killed by an unexplained shooting.

Since then, he has reigned through a score of governments, democratic and dictatorial. He has taken an especially active role in rural development.

In 1992, demonstrators against a military strongman were gunned down before the king stepped in to end the fighting and usher in a period of stability.